Personal Narrative-1 Basketball State Semi-Finals Against Radford

I went to school, except this time with a funny feeling, knowing this was the last time I would ever see any of them. All my friends and other family, I wouldn’t be seeing for a long time. Then the day came. We all woke up early that morning. My mom helped me and my brothers pack our bags and get ready for the flight. As a family we made our way to the airport with a drive that felt like it took a million years. Finally, we reached the airports and I was ready to collapse in a seat and go right to sleep.

It was a brisk fall evening, and my seventh grade youth football team and I had traveled to Aberdeen to play the undefeated Chiefs. We had worked harder and longer than we ever had that week to show that we were a threat in the league and ascend from our third place ranking. We knew it was not going to be easy; the Chiefs’ team had the fastest running back in our division, and they had scored more total points per game than any other team in the Southeast Idaho Youth Football League. The field was neater and greener than we had expected in this town. It was a great day for football, and I was with all of my best friends. I knew going in that it was going to be a learning experience whether we won or lost that night because the Chiefs were

It is the first round of the Basketball State playoffs, and with eight seconds left, the talented Northwest team is down by three. The star point guard speed dribbles up the court, the tension on and off the court is immense, the pressure is even greater. Everyone during and prior to this game, had witnessed a season full of promise, and the consensus conclusion for most recognized this team as the best team to have ever come out Northwest High School. This was our best and likely only chance for success. So as the point guard puts the ball up, time nearly stops, it has a chance, but in like in life, the game of basketball is unforgiving, he misses. As most made their pre-conceived predictions of the future, or lack thereof, a young sophomore and his Junior Varsity teammates, we were inspired by our elders walking off the court, and the doubters going home. Bonded together, and we believed we were destine for something historical, and mythological outside our small circle. Thus two years later the 2016 Northwest Varsity Basketball team, the discourse community, where I developed relationships with the people I still call my brothers. A community which has shaped my work ethic, and has given me the knowledge of the amount of effort and work it takes to be successful. All of which was in efforts for a goal not even pronounced among our teammates, to us the future was still a mystery, only realized to us a one

A few days later, our team had started practicing for our first tournament. It was on the following weekend and D.P Todd was hosting. Our couches Jenni Stern, and Jen Brunn were preparing us to play our first game, this game was against the host team. Soon the day of the tournament approached. On the day of the game our whole team was suited up in our uniforms. The game had started and myself, and Gurveet were sitting on the bench, waiting for our turn to go play. Finally we were called up to go play. When we went on our team was leading by about twenty points. I had gone out and felt a relief, and felt this is my home. The basketball court is my home. We had won our first game, beating the host team roughly by thirty points. After this

Starting the day, my sister and I were rushing out of the house to the car, so we sped down the road. The day was steamy and hot, and you could smell the fogginess falling down from the sky. We slowly got out of the car, parked by the activity entrance, we simultaneously glanced at our parents, I could feel the anxiousness spewing from them. Then we picked up the pace and opened the school doors, as I walked in I saw Jordan, a previous varsity player now senior, crumble to the floor

In the winter of my junior year, my basketball team won the district tournament. It had been a season of ups and downs, but we peaked at the right moment. We later qualified for the state tournament. Collectively we felt that we could win the championship; the momentum was with us. Unfortunately, due to two uncharacteristically sloppy and draining games, we were eliminated. After our final game, we went back to the locker room in silence. Soon, the only audible sounds were the crying of all twelve girls. Twelve girls that gave everything to each other were now devastated that their time together was over. Twelve girls sat in a circle with their faces buried in their jerseys, broken and exhausted. In that moment as we sat and cried and reflected

On October 31st, this was the day when our cyo basketball team schedule came out. As my team (Saint Anthony’s) and I looked on the schedule, we noticed that on December 11th we are playing our friends and their team name is called Saint Augustine's. We knew that if we lose they were going to make fun of us at the lunch table. Our team knew we couldn’t lose that game because it is a humongous rivalry. Our first game was against St.Peters. The location of the game was at St.Anthonys. Usually, the first game is always rusty because we have to remember the plays and some of my teammates were nervous. At the end of the first half we were winning, 16-18. Our coach Kenny, told us to remain in the game and keep fighting because he knew that we were so much better then them.

We were all to bowl and add together our scores. Only the top eight scoring teams would move on to the playoffs. Soon after cleaning his ball, Nate went up to initiate our first game, and I could tell off of his first roll that today was going to be a good day. Strike right off the bat! This only fueled our hype and confidence further. Because of this, everyone on the team seemed to have the game of their life. Even Coach seemed to be extremely impressed by the game that we had going for ourselves. After three games of qualifiers, we sat quietly while the officials tallied up the scores. Even though we were all nervous, I was still confident that we had made it. There was no way we failed with the amount of work we put in. After an extended period of time, the officials announced the scores. Gretna had placed third in overall score! We were so excited knowing that there were only seven teams in our way to the state champ

The feeling of disappointment filled the room. Regionals of freshman year competitive cheer ended, our season, over. I have never stood in such an upsetting atmosphere. I stood there, expressionless. Nearly every teammate crying, absolutely crushed at the outcome of our performance. No state finals. That feeling that everyone spoke of from state finals, unreachable. That feeling of disappointment did not hit me, for I did not understand how much feeling goes into this sport through time. Never again will I let an absence of drive take this team down. Giving up, not an option, especially not right at the end.

This was a time when all of my teammates needed to show grit, endurance, and determination. We needed to persevere. As much as I wanted to succeed I was praying a ball wouldn’t come out to me as Coach Dillinger always says, “The ball should never be hit to the outfield.” The ball was never hit out to me, but a few mistakes were made in the infield allowing three runs to score, the score was now 4-3. We were down. The situation seemed a little too familiar, being we had lost our regional final game in the last inning last season. Making this loss even harder too bare. Then it hit me, we had lost the game a second time, we couldn’t do it. The crowd became silent as the realization was going through their heads, we had worked harder than ever. That game was ours.

It is the first round of the Basketball State playoffs, and with eight seconds left, the talented Northwest team is down by three. The star point guard speed dribbles up the court, the tension on and off the court is immense, the pressure is even greater. Everyone during and prior to this game, had witnessed a season full of promise, and the consensus conclusion for most recognized this team as the best team to have ever come out Northwest High School. This was our best and likely only chance for success. So as the point guard puts the ball up, time nearly stops, it has a chance, but in like in life, the game of basketball is unforgiving, he misses. As most made their pre-conceived predictions of the future, or lack thereof, a young sophomore and his Junior Varsity teammates, inspired by our elders walking off the court, and the doubters going home, bonded together. Believing we were destined for something historical, and mythological outside our small circle thus a community was born. The 2016 Northwest Varsity Basketball team, the discourse community, where I developed relationships with people I call my brothers, a community which has shaped my work ethic, and has given me the knowledge of the amount of work it takes to be successful. Work which came in the efforts of a particular goal which at the time was unknown amongst teammates. To us the future was still a mystery, a mystery in which we knew would outline some kind of success.

It was a Friday night sitting aside from the gym court as I watched two teams about to face each other. They were both great high schools and both in devision two in the sport of basketball. It was Hope High School (aka: Blue Wave) verses my school, Mount Pleasant High School also know as the Kilties. I alway hated Hope High School for their Blue Wave cockiness. That night in side the loud, hot, and sweaty high school gym, was the night of most intimidation. As the crowd cheered loudly for the Blue Wave Team, I looked up at the points differences on the billboard. Our coordination as a team was not bad, but it was not well enough to go against our other division two competent. The first half of the game us, the Kilties, were playing horrible. The second half of the game us, as the mighty Kilties, knew not to give up because we knew karma has its own fate even in the sport of basketball. It was going to be our second half of the game to score our points up and reach up to the conceited team know as the Blue Wave. We might of won most games but other games had been losses. During my high school year at Mount Pleasant High I played a game I will always remember as a foreign Kilties. Through the loss of this particular game it tough me that jealousy can over come a persons competitive side of them.

The team I was on won the football game & we were going to have a championship tomorrow. It was getting late & there weren’t anymore people at the park besides us. At six o'clock we all had to go inside.

It was the end of February. The day of the District Championship between Southern Boone and Blair Oaks. This will be the third time playing the Eagles, and the second time on our home floor. They barely beat us the first time in the Tri-County Conference with a score of sixty-seven to sixty-eight. They received the ranking of first in Class Three Missouri boys basketball standings after that defeat. However, the second time we met on our floor, and we took them off their first place pedestal. We beat them sixty-five to fifty-two. They were now ranked second and we moved up to eighth. Blair oaks was hosting the class three District Tournament this year. So we knew we might have to play them again, but it will be on our home floor. Wouldn’t

It was the first day of the school year. I woke up that morning full of energy and excitement after being away from school for 6 weeks. It was a hot summer day and sweat poured down my face as I walked through the school gates. Everyone was talking to their friends about their holidays and about all the exciting things they did. The day started with assembly and the school was so packed in the gym that there was barely any room to